Manchester United agree £15m deal for Wilfried Zaha

Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha is set to complete his long mooted move to Manchester United after the Premier League leaders agreed a deal with the English Championship club, worth in excess of £15 million.

Wilfried Zaha during a league game against Derby County

The 20-year-old will sign a five-and-a-half-year contract at Old Trafford and will earn an initial salary of £35,000 per week. The Red Devils will pay a sum of £10 million upfront while the remaining £5 million will be based on number of appearances made at the club.

According to reports from the Guardian, Crystal Palace will be entitled to a proportion of any profit should the player be sold in future by Manchester United.

Further, Zaha will stay for the remainder of the season at Selhurst Park, as the London club is looking to return to top flight football after eight long years. They are currently fourth in the league table, and the club want their key player to stay with them and guide through the promotion.

Chairman Steve Parish made it clear beforehand that under any circumstance, the player won’t be leaving the club in January and it seems like Manchester United have accepted their demands.

Zaha was heavily linked with all the top clubs of England but none of them showed a strong desire to get him. In absence of a potential bidder, Manchester United pounced on the opportunity and wrapped up the deal swiftly.

Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t join the squad for a warm-weather training camp at Qatar mainly to conclude the deal and it could may well happen that United may lend some of the fringe players at the club to join Palace till the end of the season.

The youngster, who has already made one senior appearance for England in the 4-2 friendly defeat against Sweden under Roy Hodgson, will be named for next months’ friendly against Brazil at Wembley.